Rain Barrels & Gardens

Rain Barrels and Rain Gardens are popular ways to treat and properly manage stormwater         run-off on personal property.

A rain barrel is a rainwater storage system that is connected to a downspout from a house or building. A rain barrel collects and stores rooftop runoff. A rain garden is an attractive, landscaped area typically planted with perennial native plants build in depressions which are designed to capture and filter stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces around the home, such as rooftops and driveways. Both types of water conservation help alleviate problems associated with flooding and drainage.

 The following documents are helpful resources about rain barrels, and rain gardens.

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RAIN BARRELS

Many people ask where to get rain barrels. They can be purchased at a store, or you can search & buy them online, or the cheapest way is to make your own rain barrel. Our goal is water conservation! Below are a few YouTube videos on how to make your own rain barrel, along with a few PDF documents with suggestions as well. Good Luck!

RAIN GARDENS 

Suggested Rain Garden Plants for Ohio

Great information from Warren County SWCD

Soil moisture preferences: D = dry, M = medium, W= wet

Common Name / Botanical Name

Arrowhead / Sagittaria latifolia (W)

Blazing Star / Liatris spicata (M)

Blueberries / Vaccinium sp. (M-D)

Blue Flag Iris / Iris versicolor (W)

Brown Eyed Susan / Rudbeckia trilob (M)

Butterflyweed / Asclepias tuberosa (D)

Columbine / Aquilegia canadensis (M)

Cup Plant / Silphium perfoliatum (M)

Forget-me-not / Myosotis sylvatica (W)

Great Blue Lobelia / Lobelia siphilitica (W)

Joe-Pye Weed / Eupatorium purpureum (D)

Little Bluestem / Schizachyrium scoparium (grass) (D)

Mountain-laurel / Kalmia latifolia (M)

Nannyberry / Viburnum lentago (M)

New England Aster / Aster novae-anglia (W)

Ohio Spiderwort / Tradescantia ohiensis (M) 

Prairie Cord Grass / Spartina pectinata (W)

Prairie Dock / Silphium terebinthinaceum (D)

Purple Coneflower / Echinacea purpurea (D)

Red Twig Dogwood / Cornus sericia (D-W)

Royal Catchfly / Silene regia (D)

Shasta Daisy / Chrysanthemum maximum (M)

Shining Sumac / Rhus copallinum (D)

Sneezeweed / Helenium atumnale (W)

Smooth Aster / Aster laevis (D)

Stalk-Grain Sedge / Carex stipata (W)

Swamp Milkweed / Asclepias incarnata (W)

Sweet Black Eyed Susan / Rudbeckia subtomentosa

(M)

White Turtlehead / Chelone glabra (W)

Wild Bergamot / Monarda fistulosa (D)

Wild Geranium / Geranium maculatum (M)